CONSECRATED LIFE

THEOLOGY IV
INTRODUCTION
CONSECCRATED LIFE
• Deeply rooted in the example and teachings of Jesus Christ
• A gift of God to the Church through the Holy Spirit
• Evangelical Counsels make the consecrated life special and peculiar
• Through the evangelical counsels Christ’s characteristics are made visible in the world
• Life shaped by the evangelical counsels make people focus on the kingdom of God
• Heavenly life needs to be mirrored through Consecrated life
~ Vita Consecrata ~
RELIGIOUS CONSECRATION
• To Consecrate = To set apart for the sacred
• Consecration: total dedication of a person / thing to God > Thus separated from ordinary
or irreligious use
• The consecration carries a characteristic of permanence
• Every baptized person is consecrated to God
- It entails a call to holiness/ to live in a manner in keeping with the dignity
• Among those who are baptized some are called to a more radical consecration
• Consecrated life may be lived
(a) in the lay state as an individual
(b) within a secular institute
(c) as a vowed religious

(a) Consecrated Individual in the lay state

- A virgin could consecrate her virginity as a self-gift to God through the profession of a vow
of virginity received by a bishop
- A hermit could dedicate to prayer in radical solitude
(b) Consecration within a Lay institute
- Here lay man/ woman professes promises in a secular institute and remains in the world as a
hidden leaven through a discreet witness to Jesus Christ
(c) Consecration as a Vowed Religious
- Here the consecrated are called to public vows and public witness to Christ and to the Church
- Live according to a specific charism being separated from the world
- Live a stable, visible life in common with brothers and sisters
THE VOWED RELIGIOUS LIFE ACCORDING TO CANON 573
The life consecrated through the profession of the evangelical counsels is a stable form of living
by which the faithful, following Christ more closely under the action of the Holy Spirit, are
totally dedicated to God who is loved most of all, so that, having been dedicated by a new and
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special title to His honour, to the building up of the Church, and to the salvation of the world,
they strive for the perfection of charity in the service of the kingdom of God and, having been
made an outstanding sign in the Church, foretell the heavenly glory.
UNDERSTANDING OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE ACCORDING TO VITA CONSECRATA
A “special and fruitful deepening of the consecration received in baptism,” by which one’s
union with Christ develops into a “fuller, more explicit and authentic configuration into him.”
RELIGIOUS LIFE ACC. TO REMPTIONIS DONUM BY POPE JOHN PAUL II
“Religious profession is a new burial in the death of Christ’; new, because it is made with
awareness and choice; new because of love and vocation; new, by reason of unceasing
‘conversion’. This ‘burial in death’ causes the person “buried together with Christ to “walk
with Christ in newness of life.”
SCRIPTURAL ORIGINS OF THE RELIGIOUS CONSECRATION
• Stories of individuals called out of the ordinary circumstances of their lives to place
themselves totally and unreservedly at the service of Almighty God as instruments of
his plan of salvation
• Old Testament examples: Abraham (Gen 12), Moses (Ex 3), Jeremiah (Jer 1)
• New Testament examples: Annunciation of the Lord (Lk 1;26-38), calling of the
apostles (Jn 1:35-51)
• Annunciation: Basic structure of the call
- Divine initiative in inviting an individual to place at God’s service
- Human response accepting the call with trust in God’s providence
- A total surrender of one’s life
- Responding to the divine call helps to discover the particular role he/ she has been created
and to participate in the redemption of the world
- Fulfilment of the call is beyond human ability and thus accompanied by God’s grace
- Within the call person experience being prized by the Lord
- Fear and doubts are cleared/ engagement of whole self
Structure of the Vocation to Religious life through Jesus’ relationship to some of his disciples
- A call to welcome the Kingdom of God into their lives
- To put their lives at the service, leaving everything behind
- Closely imitating the life of Jesus
- The call begins with an encounter with the Lord in which the person is drawn to to know
Jesus more fully
- The search for fulfilment of God’s call leads the person to make a definitive commitment
realizing Christ has become all for him/ her
- The experiencing of living with Jesus > effects a re-ordering of one’s whole life: the centre,
driving force in life, education, career, personal relationships of choice, possessions, a
comfortable way of life
- In the divine call they understand that “when men have a longing so great that it surpasses
human nature... it is the bridegroom who has smitten them with this longing.”
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- Thee call to consecration is a gift.... not a personal achievement
“You didn’t choose me, but I chose you.” (Jn 15:16)
POSITION OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE IN THE CHURCH
• By divine institution, among the faithful of Christ there are in the Church the sacred
ministers who by law are also called clerics
• All the others are called lay people
• Among them there are Christ's faithful who, with the profession of the evangelical
counsels through vows or other sacred bonds
• Their state, although it does not concern the hierarchical structure of the Church,
nevertheless belongs to her life and her holiness.
• In the divine constitution of the Church, consecrated life therefore does not constitute
an intermediary reality between the condition of the laity and that of clerics.
• According to the recent Magisterium, it "by its nature is neither clerical nor lay".
• It is not an "order" that would be added, in the hierarchical structure of the Church, to
the two general orders, the lay and the sacred.
• It is more a "state of life". Strictly speaking, there are only two states characterized by
the definition and stability: the state of married life and the state of consecrated life.
• The lay state: in its secular nature and carries out an ecclesial service in witnessing and
in recalling, in its own way, to priests, men and women religious the significance that
earthly and temporal realities have in God's saving plan.
• The ministerial priesthood: represents the permanent guarantee of the sacramental
presence, in different times and places, of Christ the Redeemer.
• The religious state: testifies to the eschatological nature of the Church, that is, its
tension towards the kingdom of God, which is prefigured and in some way anticipated
and anticipated by the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.
• In our opinion, it is in life according to the advice that we find the most fundamental
figure of the following of Christ, of the undivided service to his mission. Supporting this
does not mean, however - the clarifications just made should have convinced the reader
- to emphasize the reality of religious life and even less to validate the tendency to
oppose a "Church of the perfect" to the "Church of all". In this sense, it is right to see
in this life one form among others, also fully Christian. The delicate point to verify,
both theoretically and practically, is whether the particular, more or less organized form
of the charism of consecrated life does not risk becoming insensibly constituted in a
charismatic (prophetic) "church", which with the course of time comes into conflict
with the more impersonal institution of the universal Church. Saint Paul replies: "The
body is not of one member but of many members" (1 Cor 12:14).
The experience of Basil of Caesarea makes us understand from where the consecrated life
always arises and what it is in its essence.
He re-raises, at least initially, the ideal of every renewal of evangelical life in history. "For him,
the fraternity always remains open to the ecclesial community", indeed "to the world", as Jesus
gave him to his own. In fact, "the model that (this fraternity) must represent for the church, is
built according to the ideal model of the early church of Jerusalem", with the apostles
(witnesses of Christ) to the ends of the earth "(Acts 1: 8; cf Mt 28.20)

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In the first centuries, the consecrated life was interpreted as "white material", bloodless. just
as not all are called to martyrdom, so not all Christians, even if they should be willing to
embrace the evangelical counsels, receive from the Father the precious grace of "following
more closely the suffering of the saviour." the practice of evangelical perfection is not the
result of an ascetic conquest, but the response of grace to a special gift. Von Balthasar insists:
"just as no one can apply martyrdom to himself, no one can stand in the group of disciples who
are called in a special way as is evident from Jesus' refusal to the request of the healed possessed
man (Mk 5:18)
RELIGIOUS LIFE ACOORDING TO LUMEN GENTIUM CHAPTER 4
The Nature of the Religious Life
• Church regulates the Religious life and makes it a stable form of life
• In the Church it resembles a wide -spread tree
- Seed is provided by God
- Various forms are as branches

• The Religious live in solitude or in communities

PURPOSE OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE RELIGIOUS WAY OF LIFE
a) Through them spiritual resources are multiplied for holiness of their members
b) It concerns the goodness of the body of Christ
c) It bears witness to the eternal life won by Christ for us
d) Foretells the future resurrection and heavenly glory
e) It offers a closer imitation and abiding representation of the way that the Son of God
made his own
f) It shows in a special way the transcendence of the Kingdom of God over all earthly
things and its sovereign demands
g) It brings the grandeur of the power of Christ

These religious families are having:

- Stability
- Sound teaching on striving after perfection
- Communion with the ‘army of Christ’
- Strengthening the freedom by obedience

All these are to advance the way of love

NINE ELEMENTS OF THE RELIGIOUS LIFE ACCORDING TO ESSENTIALS
ELEMENTS
(1) Consecration to God by public vows
(2) Stable, visible form of community life
(3) Corporate apostolate faithful to charism
(4) Personal, communal, and liturgical prayer
(5) Asceticism
(6) Public witness
(7) Specific relation to the Church
(8) Lifelong formation
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(9) Government calling for religious authority based on faith

(1) Consecration to God by public vows

 The Vowed Life
- To dedicate wholly to God
- To commit in a new and a special way
- To draw more abundant fruits from baptism
- To free oneself from hindrances

 The bond of the religious people with God shows the indissoluble bond of union
between Christ and the Church as bride
 The religious are by evangelical counsels, united in a special way to the Church and its
mystery
o Life is dedicated for the Church and the Kingdom of God
 Hence the Church upholds and fosters the distinctive character of institutes
 Therefore - the profession of evangelical counsels is a sign
- Which inspires all the members of the Church to fulfil their duty of Christian vocation
For the following reasons this way of life doesn’t belong to the hierarchical structure of the
Church. It belongs absolutely to its life and holiness
- For people of God - there is no lasting city on earth
- Religious life make this truth in greater clarity for they are freed from earthly cares
EXPLANATION OF EVANGELICAL COUNSELS
CHASTITY
- It’s a gift of grace for the sake of the Kingdom
- Gives heart’s freedom> to love God and the humanity
- Most effective way of dedicating oneself for the divine service
- It’s a symbol of the marriage between God and humanity
Not of one’s own strength
- Rely on God’s help
- Must not be influenced by false teaching
* e.g. It’s impossible to be alone
It could be accepted only after an adequate training> psychologically and affectively
- For it touches deeper inclinations of human nature
- At study - should be warned against dangers
POVERTY
- Symbol of Christ himself
- Share the poverty of Christ
One must cultivate it and express it in new forms
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 - It’s more than in relation to property > Poverty in spirit
Bond of the common law of labour
- But only put their trust in the providence of the heavenly Father
Some Practical ways:
- Renounce inheritance
- Contribute to the other needs of the Church
- Support the poor
- Share the resources (by different institutes)
- As institutes: avoid luxuries, excessive wealth and accumulation of property

OBEDIENCE
- Full surrender of their own wills
- As a sacrifice of themselves to God
- More united with God and His saving will (like Christ who became a servant)
- Superiors are count be the ones who hold God’s place
* They lead the members to serve all humanity
- It helps them to be more close to the Church’s service
- Nourished by the Gospel teaching, sacred liturgy and Eucharist specially
- Carry one another’s burdens mutually
Community gathering in the Lord’s name
- It’s a source of great apostolic power

Should strengthen the familial bond between of the institute and lay associates
- Equal rights and obligations (of sacred order and others- clerics and lay)
EXPLANATION OF EVANGELICAL COUNSELS

Poverty
- Symbol of Christ himself
- Share the poverty of Christ

One must cultivate it and express it in new forms

- It’s more than in relation to property > Poverty in spirit

Bond of the common law of labour

- But only put their trust in the providence of the heavenly Father

It’s the first of the beatitudes of imitating Christ

- It invites to attest> God is the true wealth of human heart

Poverty challenges the idolatry of money

- A call to be prophetic to the world that loses the sense of proportion and meaning of
things

Consecrated persons are asked to bear an evangelical witness to self-denial and restraint, in a
form of fraternal life inspired by principles of simplicity and hospitality
- be an example to who are indifferent to the needs of others

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Commitment is expressed in a preferential love for the poor
- Embrace the conditions of life and share in their sufferings, problems and perils. The
consecrated life shares in the radical poverty embraced by the Lord, and fulfils its
specific role in the saving mystery of his Incarnation and redeeming Death (Vita
Consecrata 90)

Some Practical ways:

- Renounce inheritance
- Contribute to the other needs of the Church
- Support the poor
- Share the resources (by different institutes)
- As institutes: avoid luxuries, excessive wealth and accumulation of property

OBEDIENCE
Vow of Obedience comes from those notions of freedom which separate it from its relationship
to the truth and to moral norms.
- The promotion of freedom is a genuine value, closely connected with respect for the
human person.

Vow of obedience repurposes the obedience of Christ to the Father > testifies = no contradiction
between obedience and freedom.
- The Son's attitude discloses the mystery of obedience as the path to the gradual
conquest of true freedom.
- As a result of which they wish to take the Father's will as their daily bread (cf. Jn
4:34), as their rock, their joy, their shield and their fortress (cf. Ps 18:2).

Full surrender of their own wills

- As a sacrifice of themselves to God
- More united with God and His saving will (like Christ who became a servant)
- Superiors are count to be the ones who hold God’s place
* They lead the members to serve all humanity
- It helps them to be more close to the Church’s service
- Nourished by the Gospel teaching, sacred liturgy and Eucharist specially
- Carry one another’s burdens mutually

COMMON LIFE
The community is the place where the religious release their tensions and are energized for our
mission. Brotherly affection and oneness of heart are constantly nourished in and through the
community life. There they experience the presence of the risen Lord in fraternal communion
which comes by means of mutual Love, which should be real love from God.

The Second Vatican Council contributed greatly to a re-evaluation of "fraternal life in

common" and to a renewed vision of religious community.

a) From Church-Mystery to the mystery dimension of religious community.

- It is a participation in and qualified witness of the Church-Mystery
- It is a living expression and privileged fulfilment of its own particular "communion"

b) From Church-Communion to the communional-fraternal dimension of religious community

- A living organism of intense fraternal communion, a sign and stimulus for all the
baptised.

c) From Church animated by charisms to the charismatic dimension of religious community

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 - the members of a religious community are seen to be bound by a common calling
from God in continuity with the foundational charism, by a characteristically common
ecclesial consecration, and by a common response in sharing that "experience of the
Spirit" lived and handed on by the founder and in his or her mission within the Church.

d) From Church as Sacrament of unity to the apostolic dimension of religious community

DIFFERENT TYPES OF RELIGIOUS: HERMITS AND RELIGIOUS FAMILIES

Church accepted and approved these institutes
(a) They have been helping the Church to equip with good work
(b) Also building the body of Christ
- Display variety of gifts
- Manifest the wisdom of God in many different ways

All these work bind them to the Lord

- In a special way
- Following Christ: the poor, the chaste and the obedient

Hence the Church’s life become further fruitful in apostolate

RELIGIOUS BELONG TO DIFFERENT INSTITUTES

1. Contemplatives Orders
a. Entirely for contemplation: Occupy with God alone in silence, solitude, constant prayer and
penance
b. Are honoured in the mystical Body of Christ (expression of heavenly grace)
c. Their holiness give lustre to people/ their example win new members.....Strong sign > that
Gospel has taken root
d. Contributes to the hidden apostolic fruitfulness
e. Manner of living to be revised while keeping to fuga mundi & contemplation

2. The Clerical and Lay Congregations

a. Exist for apostolic work
- Specific charism and stable form of consecrated life
b. Different communities possess different gifts: {But the spirit is the same}
- Administering, teaching, preaching, exercising charity, helping the distress
- Character of the service depends on nature of the religious life
c. So members have apostolic spirit to foster love for God and neighbour
d. Must adjust to the needs of the particular apostolate / Read the signs of the times, responds
wisely to the new needs

3. Monastic Life
a. This way of life has won a notable renown in the Church
b. Monastic life should shine in both East and West
c. Dedicate life to divine worship while engaging in some apostolic activities
d. Need to adapt in order to dedicate to the edification of the Christians

In the East
 By bearing the cross (staurophoral) and by bearing the Spirit (pneumatophoral)
They enriches the world with unceasing praise and intercessions, with spiritual counsel
and works of charity

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  With the expectation of transfiguring the world and life to the God’s countenance
Eastern monasticism gives pride of place to ... conversion, self-renunciation and
compunction of heart, the quest for hesychia or interior peace,
- Ceaseless prayer, fasting and vigils, spiritual combat and silence,
- Paschal joy in the presence of the Lord and the expectation of his definitive coming,
- The oblation of self and personal possessions, lived in the holy communion of the
monastery or in the solitude of the hermitage.

In the West
 Dedicate themselves "preferring nothing to the love of Christ"
 They try to create a harmonious balance between the interior life and work in
the evangelical commitment to conversion of life, obedience and stability, and
in persevering dedication to meditation on God's word (lectio divina), the
celebration of the Liturgy and prayer.
 In the heart of the Church and the world, they try to become signs of
communion,
- Welcoming abodes for those seeking God and the things of the spirit,
- Schools of faith and true places of study,
- Dialogue and culture for the building up of the life of the Church
- The earthly city itself, in expectation of the heavenly city.

4. Congregations of Lay men and Lay women

a. Thoroughly adequate for the profession of evangelical counsels (high esteem)
b. Serve the Church: exercising pastoral duties
c. There is an opening to admit to Holy Orders
i. With the provisions from general chapters
d. Should preserve the nature of the ancient traditions
e. But adapt to the present day needs
f. Monasteries should be seedbeds of growth of the Christian people

5. Secular Institutes
a. Not religious institutes
b. But entirely true and full profession of Evangelical Counsels
c. Church recognizes them
d. Confer a consecration of men & women (both clerical and lay)
e. Institutes should preserve their own characters (secular character)
- Consecration through evangelical counsels lived in a the midst of temporal realities
- To be a leaven of wisdom and a witness of grace within cultural, economic and
political life
- Make present the newness and power of God
- Shed light of the Kingdom and Gospel on temporal realities

RELIGIOUS LIFE IN THE CHURCH STRUCTURES

- The Holy Spirit guides the Church in defining religious way of life
- Authorities of the Church are responsible for designing religious congregation for enhancing
the quality of the Church
1. The task of the Church’s hierarchy are:
- To feed the people of God
- To lead them to rich pastures
Hence, Church has to regulate the practice of evangelical counsels by wise laws

2. Responsibilities of the Hierarchy in relation to the Religious:

- receive the religious rules
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 - put them into better order
- approve officially…. Using its supervisory and protective authority
- Church has to ensure > the religious institutes build the kingdom of God
Supreme Pontiff can excempt an institute from the jurisdiction of local bishops
- Make the subject to him alone
- Or entrust to the particular authorities

3. In providing effectively the needs of the Lord’s flock

- Yet the religious has to give due respect to bishop according to law

4. Church also gives liturgical expression to religious way of life

- For it is a state consecrated to God

5. The Church- with God given authority

- receives vows
- implores the divine aid and grace for them in public prayer
- commends them to God and bestows spiritual blessings and journeying their self-
offering to the Eucharist

6. Some admonitions: Religious should see that:

- The believers as well as unbelievers recognize Christ
- Through them the Church should be able to show Christ truly and clearly Christ:
+ in contemplation on the mountain
+ proclaiming the Kingdom of God to crowds
+ healing the sick
+ converting sinners to good life
+ blessing children

8. Cancellation of Communities and Monasteries

- Holy See together with local bishops decide the future
- Not to admit new entries
- Join those who are already there to Communities with similar spirit

9. Independent Institutes and Monasteries to form Federations

- To belong to the same religious family
- Others with few members should join Institutes or monasteries with similar
constitutions and rules and apostolates

RENEWALS REQUIRED BY PERFECTAE CARITAS

Perfectae Caritas = Decree on the up-to-date renewal of Religious life

Renewal requires two things

(a) Constant return to the sources of Christian life
(b) Constant return to the inspirations of the institutes and their adaptation to the
changed conditions of time

The renewal takes place

- Under the impulse of the Holy Spirit
- Under the guidance of the Church
The Religious need to update
• The manner of prayer, work in harmony with the demands of the apostolate
• Mode of the governments of the institutes
• Books of Constitutions and Rules
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Renewal needs to take place with the cooperation of all the members
- General chapters are held to renew legislations
- Provide room for experimentations
- Approved by the Holy See, local ordinaries

Caution: avoid multiplication of laws

Adaptation of Ministry according to the Universal Church and Respective Dioceses
- Need to adapt according to the time and place
- Need to employ new and appropriate programmes
- Need to abandon works which are less relevent
Missionary Spirit of the Communities:
- To be preserved
- To be up dated in order to be effective in preaching the Gospel

SOME NECESSAARY CHANGES

Icons of the Samaritan woman and the good Samaritans are sources of inspiration
- Samaritan woman
- The Good Samaritan
Today’s consecrated life.....
- Mechanical/ indifferent/ doing the least/ seek comfort
The Spirit urges the religious not to live in comfort as in peace time
BUT to be “on fire” (to be vigilant and active) as in war time
For the religious to be on fire>>

+ Need to shift - from half-heartedness to wholeness

- from hierarchy to mutuality
- from ghetto mentality to openess
- from security to risk taking
- from uniformity to pluralism
- from conformity to creativity
+ Need to feel one with people in their life situations
+ Need to comprehend that new realities and visions arise from disturbed grounds

1. New Vision and Energy

There is a tendency to be out dated by hanging on to old models. In order to address to the new
world order it has to have to re-read the charism of their religious order in the light of the signs
of times. Than to work for the marginalized and the needy need to be with them and to be
evangelized by them. Such a type of involvement in the ministry would give rise to a simple,
radical, ecumenical, flexible and symbolic form of consecrated life,
Should feel home in an atmosphere of change
Should be change-agents and social catalysts who loosen up congealed systems that
hinder people in their development

2. Option for the Poor

- It demands working for systematic change and development based mechanism
- Need to make a shift from charity model approach to that of transformative model
- Religious need to be educative about a right-based approach to development
- They need to be strong to face the opposition from the powerful
- For a just distribution of goods to take place they need to convert the rich too
- The economic and political structures that perpetuate poverty need to be addressed

3. Bear Witness to the Mystical Dimension

- Values have declined and liturgical practices have become meaningless for many

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- In such a context the religious need show another way of life with other goals, values and
priorities
- The religious need to become friends of Jesus like Abraham who spoke to God face to face
- There they would be able to speak to people about a God who does not alienate but enriches
and ennobles our existence
- They are expected to be “spiritual guides” and “holy ones” who would show the way
- Their attempt in rooting in God and discovering God does not alienate them from deeply
human concern
- This deep rootedness in the divine helps them to integrate with one’s body, emotions, nature
and with others
- Eventually it helps them to see God’s love in everything

4. Owning a Team Spirit

- Making a shift from individual to team approach is an urgent requirement in the present
- There is a dire need of interrelationship among various religious institutes, non-government
and government agencies

PRACTICAL ISSUES

Regarding Nuns
i. Contemplative nuns:
- Papal cloister to be maintained: adjustments are possible according to time and
place but Obsolete practices to be supressed
- Adjustments to be done in consonsultation with monasteries

ii. Nuns for Apostolic Work

- Should be allowed to work outside convents to fulfil apostolic duties

Religious Dress
- It’s a symbol of consecration
- It has to be simple, modest and poor
- Must suit to the place, time, health and needs of the apostolate
The Education of Religious
- Non-clerical religious or religious women are not allowed to engage in the apostolate
just after novitiate
- Need to engage in studies first
- Religious need to be guided on intellectual capacity, talents, attitudes of sentiments
and social life > Integral education
- Need to perfect their culture in spirituality, art, science....etc

In Relation to Founding of New Religious Communities

- Important to weigh the necessity and capabilities
- Need to make themselves appropriate to the young churches

Cancellation of Communities and Monastries

- Holy See together with local bishops decide the future
- Not to admit new entries
- Join those who are already there to Communities with similar spirit
- Independent Institutes and Monastries to form Federations
- To belong to the same religious family
- Others with few members should join Institutes or monasteries with similar
constitutions and rules and apostolates

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Favours Conferences and Councils of Major Superiors
- Specially established by the Holy See
For what???
i. To achieve the purpose of each Institute
ii. To cooperate with the welfare of the Church
iii. To ensure just distribution of ministers
iv. To conduct affairs pertaining to all communities

To Foster Religious Vocations

- Priests and educators should see to it
- To strengthen the Church and to cater to Her needs
Candidates to be chosen carefully
- Preach on Evangelical Counsels and Religious life
- Parents also should nurture a vocation in children
- Religious Communities need to promote vocations keeping to the norms of the Church
- Exemplary lives are a better advertisement for the promotion

HISTORY OF THE CONSECRATED LIFE

 50-65 A.D. > Letters of Saint Paul refer to distinct groupings in the early church,
including groups of celibate women dedicated to prayer and charity

 50-313 A.D. > Persecution of Christians: The early Church suffered a lot at the hands
of 10 major persecutions. In 313 Roman Emperor Constantine issues the “Edict of
Toleration.” The freedom the Christians received gradually forced them to live life of
laxity. In this context many saw a spiritual decadence in the Church and some Christians
started seeking ways other than martyrdom to give themselves completely to the faith.

 251-356 A.D. > Saint Anthony the Great heeds the gospel call to sell all he has, serve
the poor, and live a life of asceticism. He eventually takes up residence in the desert to
live in solitude and prayer. His story is recorded by Saint Athanasius, bishop of
Alexandria, and becomes a fourth century “bestseller” that inspires other men and
women to live as hermits.

 313-400 > Houses of monks and nuns are established in the Egyptian desert.
Pachomius, a contemporary of Saint Anthony the Great and a convert to Christianity,
creates a model for a cenobitic, or common, way of life based on the early Christian
community in Jerusalem, with all members sharing their goods and praying in common.

 350-370 A. D. > Saint Basil establishes large communities of monks in Asia Minor
(modern day Turkey). As bishop of Cesarea, Basil has his monks engage in the
apostolic work of teaching and pastoral care.

 386 A.D. > Saint Jerome, scholar and Bible translator, moves to Bethlehem where he
sets up and lives in a monastery.

 400 A.D. > Saint Augustine writes rules for monks and nuns during his early years as
a bishop in North Africa. He also founds monasteries.

 400-500 A.D. > Surge of monastic communities in the Eastern and Western church. In
470 Saint Brigid establishes Kildare Abbey in Ireland, a double monastery for monks
and nuns.

 500-600 A.D. > Common life (or community) becomes more dominant than the
hermit’s way of life and spreads to France, Germany, and Italy Saint Benedict of Nursia
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 (480-547) founds monasteries and writes a rule for monks, moderate in tone compared
to other rules for monks of the time. It soon becomes the standard for European
monasticism and is still used today by Benedictines throughout the world. At Monte
Cassino.
Benedict’s twin sister, Saint Scholastica, heads a community of women near Benedict’s
monastery She is later named the patron saint of nuns.

 600-1000 A.D. > Monasteries in Europe maintain the literature of the ancient world,
and Christian scripture is preserved and copied. Larger monasteries are centres of
cultural and economic activity, harbouring schools, hospitals, guest houses, and farms.
Meanwhile, Europe is ravaged by war and instability.

 910 A.D. > Benedictine Abbey of Cluny in central France spearheads reform of the
medieval church and produces leaders, including monks who become bishops and even
popes.

 1050-1150 A.D. > Camaldolese and Carthusian hermits (contemplative monks) are
founded by Saint Romuald (in Italy) and Saint Bruno (in the French Alps) respectively.
Both continue to this day.

 1098-1105 A.D. > Cistercian order (Trappists) greatly increases in number and
influence with the help of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.

 1020 A.D, > Saint Norbert combines a monastic regimen with parish work,
foreshadowing the coming of the mendicant, or “begging,” orders and their service in
cities.
The first “lay association” or “third order” of laity affiliated with a religious order is
founded with the establishment of the Norbertine Third Order (often referred to as
associates, tertiaries, lay associates, or secular tertiaries). Such associations continue
today.

 1150-1300 A.D. > Mendicant religious orders emerge as towns and cities develop. In
contrast with the previous emphasis on contemplative life, these new religious orders
preach the gospel and respond to the needs of the poor. The four major mendicant
religious orders are the Carmelites (founded in 1150), Franciscans (1209), Dominicans
(1214), and Augustinians (1256). Saint Thomas Aquinas joins the Dominicans in 1242.
Among the church’s greatest theologians, canon law deems him the guide to be
followed for those studying for the priesthood.

 1206-1214 A.D. > Carmelites establish a “rule,” actually a set of rules meant to guide
a daily life of prayer and contemplation. As the Carmelite order grows, it combines
contemplative life with apostolic activity.

 1209 A.D. > Saint Francis of Assisi founds the Franciscan order. Over the centuries
various branches of Franciscan men’s and women’s communities emerge, with
members exercising influence as teachers.
Franciscans also promote popular piety practices, such as the Christmas crib and
Stations of the Cross.

 1517 A.D. > Martin Luther proposes 95 “theses” in Wittenberg, Germany, symbolically
beginning the Protestant Reformation and its accompanying social and religious
upheaval.

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 1534-1585 A.D. > Saint Teresa of Ávila and Saint John of the Cross are Carmelite
mystics, writers, and reformers in Spain whose writings continue to influence Catholic
spirituality.

 1540 A.D. > Jesuits are founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Their efforts in education
and mission continue to wield influence in the church and world.

 1545-1563 A.D. > Council of Trent encourages renewal of religious orders and new
forms of religious life.

 1540-1900 A.D. > Apostolic religious orders of men and women are established. These
new communities emphasize serving the needs of the poor, especially through
education and medical care. With Saint Vincent de Paul, Saint Louise de Marillac forms
the first community of non-cloistered sisters. Many religious orders are founded in
Europe to meet social needs in the wake of the French Revolution. Saint Elizabeth Ann
Seton founds the first apostolic community of women in the U.S.

 1947 A.D.> Pope Pius XII encourages the formation of secular institutes, a distinct
form of consecrated life. These groups of priests and laity promise poverty, obedience,
and chastity without communal life or distinctive clothing.

 1950-1965 A.D. > Peak growth years for U.S. religious communities. Religious women
in the U.S. reach their highest number of 179,954 in 1965.They outnumber men in
religious life 4 to 1.

 1962-1965 A.D. > Second Vatican Council. Among many other reforms meant to
modernize the church, this worldwide council (or gathering of bishops) calls for
renewal of religious communities. Communities are urged to return to their roots and
original charism- or guiding spirit-as well as to respond to the needs of the times.
Religious communities experience change and upheaval.

 1965-2009 A.D. > People continue, as always, to found new religious communities in
response to God’s call. Religious life begins to attract new interest.

 2013-2015 A.D.> Pope Francis draws attention to religious life when he is elected in
2013. A Jesuit, he is one of only 34 religious order members to become pope. The
church designates 2015 as the Year of Consecrated Life, devotedness of members of
religious orders, and an invitation to young people to consider a vocation.

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